Railway-gate.



D. A. HALL, RAILWAY GATE.

APPLIOATION FILED'DBO. 16, 1908.

Patented June 29, 1909.

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D. A. HALL.

RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED DBO.16, 190B.

926, 1 1 3. Patented June 29, 1909.

3 SHEETSBHBBT 2.

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D. A. HALL.

RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.16,1908.

' 926,113. Patented June 29, 1909.

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wihwooea DOCK A. HALL, OF GREEK, SOUTH CAROLINA.

RAILWAY-GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 16, 1908.

Patented June 29, 1909.

Serial No. 467,862.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DOCK A. I'IALL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Greer, in the county of Greenville, State of South Carolina,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Gates; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to a railway gate and more particularly to theclass of automatic ally operated railway gates.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of an automaticrailway gate in which the same is normally positioned dircctly acrossthe path or bed of the track and is adapted to be actuated upon thetravel of a passing train to move said gate from its normal position toa position to obstruct or close the roadway intersecting the track bed.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an automatic railwaygate comprising gates arranged at opposite sides of a trackand fixed tovertical spiral members, depressible track sections arranged in thetrack and resting upon a bridge piece en gaging the spiral members andspring resetting means disposed below the bridge piece, the said gatesbeing normally disposed across the track bed and upon the travel of arailway train over the track and said depressiblc rail sections will belowered to cause the rotation of the spiral members so as to swing thegates in a position to obstruct or close a highway or road intersectingthe said track.

The invention consists in these and other novel features of constructionwhich will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in theaccompanying drawings which disclose the preferred form of embodiment ofthe invention and brought out in the appended claims. It is to beunderstood however, that changes, variations and modi- 'fications may bemade such as come )roperly within the scope of the appended claimswithout departing from the spirit of the invention..

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a top plan view of a railway trackembodying the in vention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation. Fig. 3 is a sideelevation. Fig. 4 is a similar View with the gates in a shifted positionto obstruct or close a road or highway intersecting the track. Fig. 5 isa sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 3.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views in the drawings.

In carrying the invention into practice there is provided certaindetails of construction and arrangement of parts to be located in andform part of the railway track. At any point where it is desired tolocate a gate of this character specified as upon the division lineseparating a field from the road or highway there is located a series oftrans versely disposed sleepers or beams 5 upon which are mounted andsecured in any preferred manner longitudinal beams or bars 6 which aredisposed in the same plane or parallel with the rails 7 of the track bedwhich latter rails have their ends terminating a considerable distanceremoved from each other.

At a central point between the ends of a track rail 7 is a transversehorizontally disposed supporting beam 8 the ends of which projectlaterally a considerable distance to opposite sides of the track bed andrising from the said supporting beam 8 at opposite sides of the railwaytrack are brackets 9 having upper and lower inwardly directed bearings10 in which are journaled the ends of vertically disposed spiral members11 to which are fixedly connected gates 12 the latter normally disposedacross the path of the track or track bed.

In the gap between the ends of the track rails 7 are disposed oppositelyinclined displaceable rail sections 13, the inner ends of which intorfiteach other and are pivoted as at 1 1 to form a hinge connection and theouter ends of the said rail sections 1.3 interfit the ends of the rails7 and are pivoted as at 15 to form hinge connections with the same.

Immediately below the inner pivoted ends of the rail sections 13 is abridge piece 16 the latter having its opposite ends provided withnotches 17 to engage the spiral members 11 and thus cause the turning ofthe latter when the rail sections 13 are depressed by a train travelingover the said rail sections and upon the track. The said rail sections13 are united by cross tie rods 18 which latter prevent lateraldisplacement of the sections upon the traveling of a train thcrcover.

At opposite sides of the bridge piece 16 and to the outside of thetracks are disposed guide rods 19 which latter are arranged inparallelism with the longitudinal sleepers and are fixed to the crosssleepers or beams 5 and slidably engaging these guide rods 19 are theends 20 of upwardly bowed flat springs 21 which are in the form ofplates and upon which latter the bridge piece 16 has its bearing. It isobvious that these springs 21 normally hold the inner pivoted ends ofthe displaceable rail sections 13 elevated.

Rising vertically from the supporting beam 8 and passing throughsuitable openings contained in the flat springs 21 and cross bridgepiece 16 are pins 22, the latter having at their free ends nuts to formstops 23 in the path of the vertical movement of the bridge piece 16 soas to limit the said vertical movement thereof. Surrounding the pins 22are vertically disposed coiled resetting springs 24 the latter havingtheir upper ends bearing against the underface of the bowed springs 21and their opposite ends bearing against the upper face of the supportingbeam 8, and these resetting springs are adapted to act upon the parts toreturn the gates to their normal position across the track bed afterbeing swung to a position to close a highway or road by the passage of atrain over the displaceable track sections.

On the bridge piece 16 and surrounding the spiral members 11 are cuffsor collars 25 having square sockets 26 which normally receive squaredportions 27 on the spiral members to maintain the gates from beingaccidentally pushed open from their position across the tracks.

WVhat is claimed is- 1. In a railway gate of the class described, a pairof normally elevated displaceable rail sections arranged in a railwaytrack, a bridge piece upon which the rail sections rest guide rodsdisposed at opposite sides of the track and in parallelism therewith,vertically disposed brackets, rotary spiral members ournaled verticallyin the brackets and actuated by the bridge piece, gates fixed to saidspiral members, bowed spring members disposed immediately below thebridge piece and slidably engaging the guide rods, stop means forlimiting the vertical movement of the bridge piece, and spring resettingmeans acting upon the bowed spring members.

2. In a railway gate, the combination with a railway track having a gaptherein, of displaceable normally elevated rail sections pivotallyconnected at their inner ends and pivotally connected at their outerends to the track, vertical brackets disposed at opposite sides of thetrack, vertically disposed spiral members journaled in said brackets,gates carried by said spiral members and normally intersecting the pathof the track, bowed spring members, means supporting said bowed springmembers to allow free movement of the opposite ends thereof, cross tierods uniting the displaceable sections, a bridge piece arranged directlybelow the inner pivoted ends of the rail sections and having notches inopposite extremities thereof to engage the spiral members to actuate thesame upon the lowering of the rail sections, and yieldable resettingmeans acting upon the bowed spring members to return the rail sectionsto normal elevated position.

3. In a railway gate, the combination with a railway track having a gaptherein, of displaceable normally elevated rail sections pivotallyconnected at their inner ends and pivotally connected at their outerends to the track, vertical brackets disposed at opposite sides of thetrack, vertically disposed spiral members journaled in said brackets,gates carried by said spiral members and normally intersecting the pathof the track, bowed spring members, means supporting said bowed springmembers to allow free movement of the opposite ends thereof, cross tierods uniting the displaceable sections, a bridge piece arranged directlybelow the inner pivoted ends of the rail sections and having notches inopposite extremities thereof to engage the spiral members to actuate thesame upon the lowering of the rail sections, yieldable resetting meansacting upon the bowed spring members to return the rail sections tonormal elevated position, and stop means for limiting the movement ofthe bridge piece in one direction.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

DOCK A. HALL.

iVitncsses:

J. H. BRAMLETT, SAM VVALDROP.

